Marc:
>Could you please explain what is the relations between syllabic
> >contractions & formation of ejectives?
Well, an ejective is not much more than a stop with an accompanying
glottal closure. At least in initial position, such a combination
would have been impossible in Mid IE because *CC- was not allowed.
It would have been a very syllabic language like Japanese. If
*H1 had remained *[?] medially, then we would expect combinations
like *t? or *k? where there had once been an intervening vowel.
Instead, if *H1 is indeed *[h], there would be no ejective
formations possible.
Of course, medially, one might conceive of the possibility of
ejectives forming early as in a hypothetical MidIE example like
**tap?e but the syllable boundaries ensure that *p and *? are
seperate (belonging to different syllables) and hence they aren't
really a consonant cluster per se. In initial position, *p? would
indeed belong to the same syllable and would be indistinguishable
from a full-fledged ejective.
I still would say that initially, *H1 is *[?], unless there is
reason to not think so... ?
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